STORM2K

Warmth took over the south from Texas east to the Carolinas and south to Florida. Some locations recorded temps over 20 deg above normal for the date! Today saw the warmest high temps ever recorded on Christmas Day in the following cities: New Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, Brunswick, Jacksonville (among others...see record highs Tropicana posted)


CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 25 2008
highs/lows (departure from normal) reported today:

HOUSTON 73-60 (+15)
DALLAS-FORT WORTH 68-37 (+8)
CORPUS CHRISTI 78-60 (+12)
BROWNSVILLE 80-63 (+12)
MC ALLEN 83-59 (+11)
MIDLAND 72-35 (+11)
OKLAHOMA CITY 62-27 (+7)
LAKE CHARLES 74-60 (+15)
LAFAYETTE 77-61 (+16)
BATON ROUGE 76-61 (+18)
NEW ORLEANS 79*-67 (+19) *RECORD HIGH
HATTIESBURG, MS 67-58 (+14)
MOBILE 74-64 (+18)
PENSACOLA 74-65 (+17)
BIRMINGHAM 62-50 (+12)
MONTGOMERY 65-58 (+15)
ATLANTA 59-50 (+11)
COLUMBUS, GA 65-59 (+14)
CHARLESTON, SC 80*-62 (+22) *RECORD HIGH
SAVANNAH, GA 80*-58 (+19) *RECORD HIGH
WILMINGTON, NC 69-60 (+19)
MYRTLE BEACH, SC 76-60 (+21)
COLUMBIA, SC 69-63 (+21)
AUGUSTA, GA 75-66 (+26)
BRUNSWICK, GA 80*-60 (+17) *RECORD HIGH
JACKSONVILLE, FL 81*-57 (+15) *RECORD HIGH
TALLAHASSEE, FL 75-58 (+15)
TAMPA 82-70 (+14)
FORT MYERS 84-70 (+12)
ORLANDO 79-68 (+12)
NAPLES, FL 83-69 (+11)
FORT LAUDERDALE 83-73 (+11)
MIAMI 81-72 (+8)
KEY WEST 80-72 (+6)

I dont really see what the big deal is. The prior days had been very cold.

this warmth will spread into the Great lakes region tonight, and cities such as Buffalo NY will see temperatures surge to near record high territory on Saturday (58F set 1971) ..and after several weeks of below normal cold weather, and several heavy snow-events in the past week... it will be very welcome. The large snowbanks in the Niagara Falls area will take a big hit this weekend, YAY.

-justin-

From NWS New Orleans:

After an historical winter weather event for southeast Louisiana in which the earliest measureable snow on record occurred, a dramatically different weather regime is now in place across the area. Well above average temperatures were observed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day across the area. New Orleans International Airport set a record high of 81 degrees on December 24th, exceeding the previous record by 2 degrees set in 1974, and tied the record of 79 degrees on December 25th. Additionally, most locations around the area have observed high temperatures about 15 degrees above average during the last 2 days.

In regards to the rarity of such a warm Christmas Holiday, high temperatures have exceeded 75 degrees less than 10 times in the last 60 to 100 years in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.